“Here is the truth — I am just like the thousands of grieving people out there. I don’t have a disorder. I am just vocal and unapologetically public about it… People want you to grieve quietly, neatly, and in a way that doesn’t disturb the status quo.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Three Years Later
tags: grief-and-loss
“Yathā bhūta asks:
Can you witness your experience without flinching?
Can you see what’s actually here—not what you were taught to see?
This is not passive acceptance. This is radical clarity.
And with it comes freedom—not from grief, but from the tyranny of pretending it’s something else.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Five Years Later
tags: as-it-is, grief, yathā-bhūta
“Stillness is not the opposite of motion. It is what remains when motion completes itself.”
― G. Scott Graham, The Tao of Equanimity
tags: equanimity, meditation, tao
“You scroll.
You feel.
You judge.
You click.
But do you pause?
Do you see what you’re chasing?
Do you notice what’s pulling you?”
― G. Scott Graham, The Tao of Psychedelics
tags: doom-scrolling, psilocybin, psychedelic-integration, psychedelic-preparation, psychedelic-therapy, psychedelics, scrolling, social-media, tao, taoism
“Psychological flexibility is the ability to remain present and open to experiences, even when they are challenging, unfamiliar, or emotionally intense. It is the capacity to embrace each moment as it unfolds rather than reacting with resistance, avoidance, or an attempt to impose control”
― G. Scott Graham, Engagement: The Missing Component in Psychedelic Therapy
“The fourth precept, traditionally phrased as ‘To refrain from false speech,’ can be transformed into a positive and empowering ideal: I cultivate truthful, kind, and meaningful speech.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Eight Precepts
tags: atthasīla, buddhist-ethics, eight-precepts, eightfold-ethical-conduct, uposatha-vows
“You are not bound by the past; you are building what comes next. And at the heart of it all is the mind.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Maṅgala Sutta
tags: 38-blessings, buddhist-quotes, life-design, mangala-sutta, maṅgala-sutta
“Engagement means being fully present and actively involved in the experience. This does not mean attempting to steer the journey in a specific direction or resisting difficult emotions. Instead, it is about cultivating a dynamic relationship with the experience—allowing it to unfold while remaining connected and responsive.”
― G. Scott Graham, Engagement: The Missing Component in Psychedelic Therapy
“If you believe your practice only “counts” when you’re sitting with your eyes closed, you’re missing 90% of the path.
Your cushion is your lab.
Your life is the field.
That’s where real practice happens.”
― G. Scott Graham, Now what? After Your Vipassana Course Is Over
tags: vipassana, vipassana-meditation
“Engagement is not merely an enhancement to the psychedelic experience—it is the key to its transformative potential. The difference between a journey that fades into memory and one that catalyzes profound change lies in the willingness to fully participate.”
― G. Scott Graham, Engagement: The Missing Component in Psychedelic Therapy
“You don’t want to pour all this effort into preparation only to make a wrong turn on the day of your psychedelic experience.”
― G. Scott Graham, Psychedelic Preparation Workbook: Sixty Days to Engagement
tags: psychedelic-preparation
“Effective Logistics Make Paddleboarding with Dogs Smoother: Successfully managing paddleboards, leashes, and dogs requires careful planning to prevent chaos.”
― G. Scott Graham, SUP with your Pup: A Guide to Paddleboarding with your Dog
tags: dog-training, paddleboarding, sup
“Too many people spend their entire existence ignorant of the core values that drive them. They focus on what the world around them tells them to value, and they build a career, a family, and a life on these values. Then they wonder why they aren’t fulfilled.”
― G. Scott Graham, MDMA and Grief
“The seventh precept, traditionally phrased as ‘To refrain from entertainment, beautification, and adornment,’ can be reframed as a positive ideal: I cultivate inner stillness, simplicity, and appreciation for natural beauty.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Eight Precepts
tags: atthasīla, buddhist-ethics, eight-precepts, eightfold-ethical-conduct, uposatha-vows
“Grief isn’t a process to go through. Grief isn’t a problem to overcome. Grief isn’t something to put behind you. Grief is a gift. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly: at some point during the past seventeen months, I realized the truth that grief is a gift.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Meditation & Grief
tags: grief
“There’s no failure with intentions.”
― G. Scott Graham, Psychedelic Preparation Workbook: Sixty Days to Engagement
tags: psychedelic-preparation
“What you cling to will crumble. What you are does not need to be held.”
― G. Scott Graham, The Tao of Equanimity
tags: equanimity, meditation, self, tao
“Healing is about becoming available.
To life.
To joy.
To fear.
To grief.
To love.
To uncertainty.
To beauty that has no guarantees.
Healing is the willingness to show up exactly as you are — not cleaned up, not perfected, not finished.
Just here.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Five Years Later
tags: grief-and-loss, healing
“The Maṅgala Sutta… provides a clear blueprint for such a life. It outlines thirty-eight blessings—qualities, habits, and ways of being that lead to true well-being.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Maṅgala Sutta
tags: 38-blessings, buddhist-quotes, life-design, mangala-sutta, maṅgala-sutta
“There are times when I don’t even notice that my grief. There are other times when grief crops up quite startlingly in an excruciatingly painful way… And just like my knees, there are times that grief makes a sound that only I can hear. I just try and ignore it. Throughout all of this – to the world – by all outward appearances in daily life – I am fine. But I am not.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Three Years Later
tags: grief-and-loss
“If there’s any offering in these pages, it’s this:
You don’t need to transcend your pain to be worthy of love.
You don’t need to have a clear path to keep walking.
You don’t need to have let go of the past to hold what’s here now.
You get to love again.
You get to grieve still.
You get to be afraid and hopeful and messy and grounded and undone and whole — all at once.
You get to come as you are.
Not once.
Not when you’re “better.”
Not after you’ve figured it all out.
Every day.
Over and over.
With whatever you’re holding.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Five Years Later
tags: grief-and-loss-quotes, grief-quotes
“Yathā bhūta is unflinching. It is clear-eyed. And it is essential to surviving grief with integrity.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Five Years Later
tags: grief, yathā-bhūta
“By focusing on aspiration rather than avoidance, the precepts become a source of joy, transformation, and deep fulfillment.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Eight Precepts
tags: atthasīla, buddhist-ethics, eight-precepts, eightfold-ethical-conduct, uposatha-vows
“Grief, like any other emotion, is a natural part of the human experience. Grief is simply the price of admission for a life that is lived to its fullest and most profound potential. There are only two ‘problems’ with grief: when we resist it and when we fuel it.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Three Years Later
tags: grief-and-loss
“Let me be clear here on what the issue is. It is not the cards. It is sympathy. Sympathy does nothing for your grieving. It is just some stupid fucking social norm that makes the person expressing it feel all puffed up about what a good person they are.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Three Years Later
tags: grief-and-loss
“Now, we can access “software” to create a treatment plan for a client instead of a “storage cabinet.” Now we navigate through “treatment planning modules” and these modules are filled with drop down menus and self-populating objectives. We think we are no longer doing fill-in-the blanks. But we are only fooling ourselves.”
― G. Scott Graham, Treatment Planning 101
“Vipassanā isn’t about feeling something — it’s about doing something, over and over again.
And like any form of training — physical, mental, or spiritual — there is no shortcut. You can’t bypass the work. You can’t meditate your way around impermanence. You can only meet it — again and again — with awareness and equanimity.”
― G. Scott Graham, Now what? After Your Vipassana Course Is Over
tags: vipassana, vipassana-meditation
“Grief doesn’t end.
That’s the myth I want to let go of once and for all.
It doesn’t finish.
It doesn’t fade neatly.
It doesn’t follow a linear arc with a clean moral at the end.
It changes shape.
It tucks itself into different corners of your life.
It surprises you.
It adapts.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Five Years Later
tags: bereavement, grief-and-loss, grief-and-loss-quotes, grief-quotes, grieving
“The eighth precept, traditionally stated as ‘To refrain from luxurious beds and high seats,’ can be reimagined as a positive aspiration: I live simply, rest mindfully, and rise with intention.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Eight Precepts
tags: atthasīla, buddhist-ethics, eight-precepts, eightfold-ethical-conduct, uposatha-vows
“The eight precepts are not restrictions. They are invitations to live with greater intention, meaning, and joy.”
― G. Scott Graham, Living the Eight Precepts
tags: atthasīla, buddhist-ethics, eight-precepts, eightfold-ethical-conduct, uposatha-vows